Almost4x4

Hello everyone,

It was a nice drive today from the e66 to qudra.

I was in the convoy lead by @Rashidjass and supported by @Abu Jimmy , @optimus , @Abu Odai and @Rathica . Rashid took us towards qudra in a bit of technical way, introducing a slight bit of side cresting.

Not a lot of stops or waiting for rescues made the flow benefit.
All and all, good to drive in this area with all of you.

I think people did well today and enjoyed a lot. Thank you to the organizers and hopefully see you soon again.

Tom

Hello Everyone

First of all, I would like to thank @Scorpio for planning and organizing the drive. Although he couldn't make it due to a health issue, the marshals executed his plan .

@SINGH was to jump and help the demand for a second convoy. Then @Rashidjass jumped to save the 8- convoy when @Scorpio got down. Finally, @Abu Jimmy jumped in to save the day for the entire event. That what I call TEAM SPIRIT !!

The name of this drive was "Keep up the pace" and that exactly what @SINGH demonstrated for us. You drive in a technical area where you have to keep the right speed to overcome the obstacle in front of you and at the same time keep the right distance between you and the car in front of you "20 meters".

I think it took a while for our new members to get a grasp of it but all in all they did very well. There were many scenarios and I don't know how the 2 hrs finished so fast

Before I close this report I shouldn't forget the effort was done by our rescue training team. @Defragmantor the deflating master, @kareem.alameldin for all the pulling, @Gabor for making sure no one left behind & @giorgio my partnar in crime

It is getting hot these days so get ready with the SUNRISE drives

Cheers
Shamsi

Keep up the pace or better keep eyes open, keep ears open, do not blink,.... @SINGH took us through the small dunes but not the easy track, he was taking us through the challenging track then stop and watch us, there was one place where i think we spent 20 min, here is a video for it and i think we experienced every type of recovery, pulling with rope, pushing with hands, jumping, that small white Pajero took a while to go out, later @kareem.alameldin had to stand on the side of my jeep when i got stuck after accidentally following the intermediate track, apperantly previnting a flipover , then i experincied my first pop-out, it was a quick fix and i came to know that my jack is a mini jack and disposable (one time use only), at the beginning i thought @alshamsi_m is just making fun out of my jack but when i saw other jacks, i realeazed he is not, but it worked and one cup of sand were pulled out of the tire later .

All of that aside, it was planned for this trip to be my warmup for a visit to IMG later that day, oh dear believe me all IMG rides are peace of cake after “Keep Up the Pace”

Enjoy watching

Hello, Everyone!

I was extremely pleased to see all of you, and of course I want to thank everyone, who made Keep up the pace possible. @Scorpio , I hope you're feeling better and hope to see you soon

I arrived at the meeting point on time and had a honour of driving Mando in an 8+ convoy, leading by @Rashidjass with great support as @optimus , @Rathica ,@Abu Odai and @Abu Jimmy .

We started the drive at 8.30 am and were due to finish at 11.45. From the very beginning of the drive, I was insanely nervous, apparently the smell of the new Mando made my heart beat faster On the other hand, riding the obstinate Mando was not easy. It is so powerful and strong, that it took me almost all the time to feel the necessary speed. I was driving an airplane, not a car . Plus, I needed to constantly concentrate on the track, which was practically invisible on the white sand. The track consisted of many technical areas of soft sand, as well as arches and a site crests as site to flat and it was extremely difficult to control that strong boy on the top of the dune. So, during the short break, I asked for a help. @Abu Jimmy fully explained how, at what angle, at what speed to enter the crest, how to control and adjust the car on the top. Thank you very much

After that, I finally managed to come to an agreement with Mando and get incredible pleasure for the last 10 minutes

In general, the drive did not have any situations, everything was smooth and in motion. Therefore, we reached al Qudra earlier than planned.

Thanks again to everyone @Tomvanhouten for the second lead, @brett , @Flor ,@CARLOSS , @AdamW , @James, @dorudoru and of course @alshamsi_m for Mando!

Looking forward for the next drive.

With big love

Your Vika.

Good morning everyone,

So here we are on another sunday morning chained to the desk for another 5 days.

"Keep up the Pace" was originally for the 8- Newbies, however we were lucky enough for it to be opened up with a second convoy for 8+ Newbies
Thanks to @Scorpio for arranging and planning the drive - i hope you are feeling better. at least your FJ still managed to get out in the sand not by remote control but with @Rashidjass piloting

A quick briefing by @alshamsi_m split in to 2 convoys

for me it was the 8+, lead by @Rashidjass. supported by the crew consisting of @optimus , @Rathica ,@Abu Odai and @Abu Jimmy .

The drive started off pleasant enough with some technical stuff. I was sitting in 3rd position behind @Tomvanhouten. Let me just say at this point the drive was a milestone for me as it was No10 ! I felt I have grown considerably in my experience in those past drives. But in comparison the dunes encountered in the Milky Way Drive the week before that were much bigger (x10). But these tight technical areas in Al Qudra area are still a challenge. as mentioned the white sand and flat light made it almost impossible at times to read the terrain. I also must admit I have a (lacking)confidence issue with Cresting and with @Rashidjass being the "Cresting King" before long we were "cresting" sure it was not a high crest, but i just could not do it and did a not very pretty departure to the right, my second attempt was no better. I realised the back end was slipping away from me constantly and realised I was running the tyres at 13psi ! I resolved that issue and we continued on.
It was a fast pace and before we knew it we were within sight of Al Qudra lakes. on the last section after coming of the service road another "crest" and following mention]Tomvanhouten[/mention] I saw him bouncing and throwing sand up ahead of me - I had already committed to the crest and I was thinking @Tomvanhouten might get stuck so I aborted the crest and exited to the right - again not a pretty exit but I managed to the shiny side up, again my tyres had crept up to 12/13psi.

Thanks again to the Marshals and Crew for keeping us safe
thanks for the little pep talk by @Abu Jimmy mid drive as mentioned already by @Viktoriia

it was a great drive with I think no recoveries needed and only a very few 2/3 tries. no pop outs. So we found ourselves at the finish point way ahead of schedule at around 11am.

to the other members of our convoy (the usual rat pack)
@AdamW @James @dorudoru @CARLOSS @Flor @Viktoriia @Tomvanhouten.
Thank you for another great adventure it was short and mostly sweet.

Take away from this drive
- check tyre pressure then check and adjust as often as you can during the drive the summer temps mean the pressure increases as we drive
- Practice cresting, overcome the demons in my head in relation to Crests
- Patience and concentration.
- Listen, Observe, Learn
- Regardless of the number of drives your ego must stay at home, confidence comes with experience, over confidence can be dangerous.


Till the next time

Brett
J-Wasp